New Radio Interface, Major IMT-2000 Updates Prepped for ITU Approval
GENEVA -- Preliminary ITU approval of major updates to 3G radio interfaces for IMT-2000 and a new IEEE 802.16/WiMAX variant radio interface are fueling rivalry to cut operator costs and improve services, performance and data rates for consumers, industry officials said. Opposition from Qualcomm, Ericsson and China countered ITU member states’s strong support during a May 23-31 ITU-R WP-8F (Working Party- 8F) meeting in Kyoto, Japan.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The document approved in Kyoto includes evolutions for 5 radio interfaces, adding a 6th interface to the ITU global standard for 3rd-generation (3G) wireless communications, International Mobile Telecom-2000 (IMT-2000), said a WP 8F participant. Radio interfaces define technical protocols for communications between terrestrial base stations and mobile equipment. Regulatory bodies in Europe, as well as China and many other countries, require IMT-2000 technologies in certain frequency bands, said a WP-8F participant
National bodies in the WP-8F meeting strongly endorsed the IEEE 802.16/WiMAX variant radio interface, said a WP-8F participant. IEEE 802.16 was developed as an Internet-like delivery platform to lower costs for operators and improve service, performance, quality and data rates to consumers, he said. But Qualcomm and Ericsson were extremely vocal and very aggressive on many procedural and technical issues, he said. Discord at Kyoto would have delayed its consideration until next year, he said. Several administrations including the U.S. said getting a decision now -- before the Oct. 22- Nov. 16 World Radiocommunication Conference -- was critical, he said.
Two of key existing radio interfaces under 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) control, he said. Another is a child of 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2). The 3GPP2 camp included their newest evolution -- ultra mobile broadband (UMB) -- an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology, he said. The 3GPP camp included Long Term Evolution, he said: “That’s also OFDMA.” Both groups added OFDMA plus much other material -- all in 13 minutes, he said. “If you're already one of the radio interfaces and you want to do an evolution, it doesn’t seem to make any difference what the extent of the evolution is,” he said: “In both cases, they're called CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and they put in OFDMA, which is not CDMA.”
The Chinese often raised questions during the meeting, saying they weren’t clear on some issues and had concerns and questions and wanted further discussion, a WP-8F participant said. By meeting’s end, the Chinese said they weren’t ready to move the issue forward. The decision was made to forward the document to ITU-R SG-8 for final approval, with China invited to put its reservations in writing. Reservations need to be worked out before the June 25-26 SG-8 meeting addresses the matter, but it’s not clear what will happen, an official said: “This doesn’t mean there is opposition to the process.”
“If it’s not approved, then none of them get updated,” a WP-8F participant said. SG-8 can send it back to WP-8F for further review, WiMAX Forum pres. Ron Resnick said, calling additional evaluation the likeliest scenario. SG-8 may send it to ITU members for final approval, or to the Oct. 15-19 Radiocommunication Assembly for a faster decision.
“This technology is the future technology regardless of what gets inserted,” Resnick said: “OFDMA is the same technology that’s being incorporated in [3GPP] Long Term Evolution.” The question is how quickly the new radio interface gets in, he added.